


What Happens by Accident

by pyrrhical (anoyo)



Series: Time Pieces [5]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003)
Genre: First Person, M/M, Roy POV, Second Person, Spoilers: 2003 Anime, Time Piece, intentional tense changes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-27
Updated: 2008-04-27
Packaged: 2018-09-30 15:07:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10165661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anoyo/pseuds/pyrrhical
Summary: "It almost seemed like a bizarre twist of fate.  Or perhaps that Xing thing -- Yin-Yang.  Dark and light, but little pieces of each.  A perfect fit.  A horribly perverse fit.  Asymmetrical, but still understandable."Roy thinks about Ed, his relationship with Ed, and what ridiculous irony his life is.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written 4/27/08.
> 
> This is a "Time Piece." It's a thing I do when I want to inspire myself. I put my iTunes on shuffle and start writing to whatever comes up, and continue writing through the next four songs. All five songs are written to the same story, but there are subtle changes with the music to the storyline, so the song switches are actually part of the story. Yes, I know this is sort of strange.
> 
> It's all Roy's POV, I promise, though some of it seems like it isn't. The switches in tense and person are intentional.
> 
> Spoilers for the end of the 2003 anime. If you haven't seen it, don't read. Or, if you're sticking to the manga and Brotherhood, read if you feel like it, but if you don't know the 2003 ending, the last bit's going to be confusing.

**Time Piece 1  
** Sarah McLachlan  
Building a Mystery 

_You come out at night -- that's when the energy calls._

It almost seemed like a bizarre twist of fate. Or perhaps that Xing thing -- Yin-Yang. Dark and light, but little pieces of each. A perfect fit. A horribly perverse fit. Asymmetrical, but still understandable.

Like a Circle.

One bright like the sun, but with darkness clinging heavily to his heart.

The other, embracing his darkness, more subdued, but with a secret light. And dangerous, secret light. 

_You all look beautiful -- a beautiful fucked up man._

They were fit pieces of one another. Swap a tiny bit, and then they were monotoned. 

Dull.

Lifeless.

That separate little spark was everything, and it was how they fit.

That's how everyone fits: you find what completes your imperfection, and an imperfection you can complete, and then you just go with it.

That's life. Full of life.

**Time Piece 2  
** Megumi Hayashibara  
Extrication 

Youthful energy, youthful outlook -- so optimistic, so brilliant. A bright future.

And why not? Isn't that the one things a teenager should never lose? Their indomitable spirit -- their feeling of invincibility? Let the adults hold monopoly on pessimism and collective anguish, and spend at least a third of your life living it. You've got plenty of time to see the light.

So why not be the light?

_And many, many, until I reach my passionate vision -- I want to keep on trying._

At least for a time, anyway. Keep believing that dreams are attainable. Keep dreaming that your dreams are just outside your grasp, and you're moving ever closer every day.

Don't see life as just one more day gone between you and death: make it one more day gone between you and birth.

Let the pessimism come later.

**Time Piece 3  
** Faith Hill  
Love Is a Sweet Thing 

_He was sittin' on the corner with a bottle of beer._

You ask me how it happened? I'll probably laugh and tell you I don't know.

You ask me why it happened? I'll punch you in the face.

Love doesn't make a person mellow, dammit. Don't make that mistake twice. The bruises don't look so great with your complexion. 

_It's everywhere you look if you look hard enough; it's really not too hard to see._

One day I was walking along, minding my own business. The next, there was no pitter-patter, no doves flying, no small animals following me around singing and calling for my prince. Instead, there was a bad mission, a bad mood, and a couch.

Not so romantic, I know, but you win some, you lose some, right?

Karma?

Well, something like that.

Who'd have known that an imperfect moment can lead to perfection? I certainly didn't. I mean, alchemy has to be perfect, right? Or else you get the wrong result?

Isn't love just pheromones? A different kind of alchemy? A different kind of reaction?

Apparently there are exceptions.

**Time Piece 4  
** Iron and Wine  
Fever Dream 

When you're little, and you get sick, your mom sits next to your bed with a rag and a cool hand. She comforts you, coos, makes it better. Being sick sucks, but your memories of it don't. In fact, they're almost calming.

Because you're taken care of, aren't you? That being taken care of earlier in life helps you know how to take care of others, later in life, doesn't it?

_As sure as tomorrow will come._

So you learn how to take care of others by being taken care of, just as you learn how to protect yourself by being protected. 

But what happens when you don't have those examples? Those little poster boards of, "This is how to insert daily living here!"

You could be philosophical and say that then you develop a different way of doing things, and life straightens out.

Or you could say that you don't much know how to do it.

And then someone else steps in.

You didn't have anyone to take care of you for most of your life, but as sure as I live, there's someone now.

So relax. Here's a cold rag. It's for your head.

I'm not saddened you didn't know that.

Because I'll teach you.

Because that's what I'm here for: you.

**Time Piece 5  
** Savatage  
Chance 

_He was standing all alone, trying to find the words to say, when every prayer he ever prayed was gone._

I always laughed when I read those pieces in my schooling: the torn lovers, kept apart, never to be allowed to be together.

I always laughed. I thought, "Well, that's ridiculous. If they really want to be together, they can find a way. That's love, right?" 

I had a wonderful example of love, growing up: my own parents. They loved one another so much that they left their families to be nearly penniless to be together. And then, when one died, the other followed. That's how love works. It's a sacrifice. But if it's true, if it's love, then that's all that matters, right?

I don't laugh anymore.

_I'll be back again. See the people standing in a row? See them nodding like a field of grain? No one sees the sickle coming across the plain._

It's not so funny when it's you. It's not family rules, duties, or anything like that what keeps us apart. If it were that, I could deal with it. I could smite it. I could smoke it.

But it's not. You're gone. Not just on a journey, not just a few leagues away: out-and-out completely up and fucking vanished. Al said something about the Gate. That Rose saw it. That you vanished.

Well, hell. Doesn't that just make me feel like maybe what you laugh at really does come back to haunt you. I should probably take an itinerary of all the things I've scoffed over the years.

Maybe not. Maybe that's not feasible.

And maybe this just isn't funny. At fucking all.

_Staring at his inhibitions, believing that it all came down to nothing but this chance. I fear you. Your silence. Your blindness. See what you want to see._

I realized it a while ago. That I loved you, that is. I know, how crazy, I can admit it.

Well, it's easy to admit things that are useless, isn't it? In hindsight? When you know that no matter what you admit, it doesn't make a difference? No ill effects?

I thought to myself, "When this is all over, then I can let myself live. Love. Love you."

Maybe I wasn't right. Maybe this is funny.

So fucking funny.


End file.
